“You'll Be Fired if You Refuse” - Human Rights Watch

are also corruption issues, a serious problem. [Inspectors] are paid to look
the other way about accidents. 215
A miner at the Chinese-owned CLM, who has worked in Luanshya’s underground copper
mine for 23 years, expressed similarly:
MSD is compromised, it’s a big problem. They don’t come often to inspect
for [violations of safety regulations], only when we are renewing our
blasting license. They don’t come for safety audits. In fact, I haven’t seen
them in a year. A year! Adequate laws exist here in Zambia, but
enforcement is not there.… The government just doesn’t have the will.
And while MSD is the most direct problem, it comes from higher. Not long ago,
[a senior government mining official] came here and said to the workers, “Be
content with what you have. Your people are languishing—for every job here,
there are 15 others waiting outside [unemployed]. Or have you forgotten that
the mine was closed before the Chinese came?” The conditions here don’t
matter to them, they don’t defend us, so the MSD doesn’t defend us either. 216
Miners with the Chinese companies often expressed that MSD—and the government more
generally—was particularly compromised with the Chinese, because of their employers’
propensity to pay bribes. Several said that their Chinese bosses openly made comments
about the government being “in their pockets” 217 or about workers’ complaints being
futile. 218 A Zambian member of management at Sino Metals said that he had seen Chinese
management there regularly give presents to visiting members of the government,
including electronics, alcohol, and cell phones. 219 Previous reports on China’s role in
Zambia have also highlighted the problem of corruption in compromising the Mines Safety
Department and, in turn, worker safety. 220
215 Human Rights Watch interview with John Lungu, professor at Copperbelt University, Kitwe, November 16, 2010.
216 Human Rights Watch interview with blast engineer A at CLM, Luanshya, July 17, 2011.
217 Human Rights Watch interviews with foreman at CLM, Luanshya, July 17, 2011; and with miner C in the SX/EW plant at Sino
Metals, Kitwe, July 13, 2011.
218 Human Rights Watch interviews with surface electrician A at CLM, Luanshya, November 10, 2010; with MUZ union official,
Chambishi, November 5, 2010; with mechanical fitter at Sino Metals, Kitwe, July 14, 2010.
219 Human Rights Watch interview with Zambian manager at Sino Metals, Kitwe, July 14, 2010.
220 Haglund, “In It for the Long Term?,” p. 641, fn. 80 (“In 2006 production at NFCA was stopped for eight days upon the
insistence of the Mines Safety Department because the rope winder for one of the shaft elevators needed its brakes replaced.
Production was eventually resumed, without replacing the lift’s brakes.” The author then cited an NFCA miner he interviewed
as saying, “I asked somebody, why is it that this winder is running, when we were told it has a problem. He said ‘this man
69 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011